High Calorie crackers or other tortilla alternative?
on 03/13/2008 15:44:55 MDT

I'm trying to find an alternative to the calorically inefficient tortillas that I usually take to spread peanut butter on. At 83 calories to ounce, i feel that this is the one area that I could improve on for a thru-hike. I looked briefly in the cracker isle and didn't find anything promising. I tried to shy away from the organic/whole foods isle because I didn't want to spend $3+ for a sleeve of crackers. Ideas anyone?

Edit: I just discovered Wasa Sesame Crispbread on amazon. At 120 calories per ounce, this is much better than tortillas. Keep the ideas coming though.

I like the idea of using pringles as a base to put Peanut Butter upon, but they just are too brittle I'd think. I have considered eating an entire tube of Pringles for lunch/snack, but never using a few to spread something on. The same thing applies with chips. I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't crumble when you put a bit of force on them with a spork smeared with PB..then again I've never tried.

I had purchased some low carb tortillas recently and I thought they were horrible. Even while gently heated in a saute pan, they still maintained the consistency of cardboard. IMO, not worth the carb savings.

Back to the peanut butter though... I wonder if you can thin the peanut butter out so it's more of a dip. Actually, a dark chocolate covered pringle, dipped into a peanut butter dip would be awesome!

I buy an even better version of it in Asian grocery stores (why it is sold there I have NO idea but whadda I care?). It is imported from Belgium and or the Netherlands and is a marbled mix of chocolate hazelnut and white hazelnut spread. Pure fat. So good!

There used to be tortillas made by the French Meadow Bakery called Sprouted Hemp Tortillas that had around 210 calories per tortilla, and around 17 grams of fat. Calorically they are awesome, unfortunately if they aren't toasted they taste a little strange. The sprouted hemp bread by french meadow bakery is also very similar. These have an extremely low glycemic index and provide a very good source of calories. The hemp bread with hummus is off the chains. Hemp seed is also a tasty and nutritious alternative to flax seed.

Re: High Calorie crackers or other tortilla alternative?
on 03/18/2008 22:40:43 MDT

The neat thing about Pringles is that they make GREAT fire starters! No kidding.

Safeway used to carry pilot crackers, but I can't find them there anymore. As a replacement I now use Ak-mak crackers, made of whole wheat with sprinkles of sesame, they're great with pb. And they hold up fairly well to the rigors of backpacking. Happy trails!

Out hiking we love Trader Joe Multi-Grain Pretzel Nuggets and although it would be fiddly to spread PB on them, that would taste great. We added them to bags of dried fruit and nuts (which made them a bit soft after a few days and we still loved them). They have 110 calories per OZ (and 1 g dietary fiber per OZ) and cost about $1.20 per 8 OZ bag.

When I've asked thru hikers what their favorite food is, their sentiment is often 'anything we haven't been eating' so it may be good to have a few selections in this category.

Wow... talk about blast from the past... haven't made the stuff in a few years... but yeah, it's good. Real good. Especially if, as you alluded to, you dink around with the recipe a bit to really make it yours.